Celebrate Hanukkah with Grammy-winning pioneers of modern klezmer, The Klezmatics, as they mark their 40th anniversary with a festive concert celebrating light, resilience, and radical joy.
The program combines music from the acclaimed new album We Were Made For These Times, beloved Hanukkah songs from Happy Joyous Hanukkah—the band’s celebrated collaboration bringing Woody Guthrie‘s long-lost Hanukkah lyrics to life—and fan favorites spanning four decades of groundbreaking music.
Blending Yiddish tradition with Black gospel, jazz, Latin rhythms, and global influences, The Klezmatics create a joyful holiday celebration that honors the past while speaking powerfully to the present.
The Klezmatics are the only Grammy Award-winning klezmer band and one of the most iconic and adventurous groups in modern Jewish music. Since emerging from New York City’s East Village in 1986, they have led a global revival of klezmer, combining centuries-old Yiddish tradition with radical contemporary sensibilities.
For nearly four decades, The Klezmatics have brought their unique sound to audiences around the world—blending klezmer with jazz, gospel, punk, classical, Latin, and Balkan styles. Their music is rooted in Eastern European Jewish tradition but also embraces a progressive worldview, tackling themes such as human rights, antifundamentalism, diaspora, and cultural resistance.
Their impact is unmistakable. The Klezmatics are the only klezmer band to win a Grammy Award (Best Contemporary World Music Album for Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie). They have released 13 acclaimed albums, topped the Billboard World Music Chart, and received multiple international honors, including the German Critics Award and the New York Jewish Music Award.
Their work transcends genre and platform. The Klezmatics have performed in over 20 countries, from Carnegie Hall to European cathedrals to rock festivals. Their music has been featured in films, television, theater, and dance, including collaborations with Tony Kushner (A Dybbuk) and Pilobolus Dance Theatre (Davenen), as well as the scores of films by Pearl Gluck. Their songs have appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, and HBO’s Sex and the City.
The Klezmatics have collaborated with a wide range of artists, including violinist Itzhak Perlman, Israeli star Chava Alberstein, gospel singer Joshua Nelson, Arlo Guthrie, poet Allen Ginsberg, and Theodore Bikel, among others. Their Grammy-winning project with Woody Guthrie’s lyrics redefined the possibilities of Jewish-American musical storytelling.
New Jersey's jazz legacy takes center stage in A Tribute to Count Basie: The Kid from Red Bank. Performed by James Langton's New York All-Star Big Band, this high-energy concert celebrates the unmistakable sound and driving swing of Count Basie - music that still thrills and moves audiences today.
Rick Steves host
New Jersey Symphony
Blue-eyed soul pioneers The Righteous Brothers are back! With a string of #1 clas-sics, including the most played song in radio history, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Fee/in’, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield topped the charts in four decades. After Bobby’s death in 2003, Bill Medley con-tinued to perform to sold-out crowds around the world, but fans and friends pleaded with him to keep The Righteous Brothers alive.
Between 1925 and 1928, Louis Armstrong made a series of influential recordings with a studio group, the Hot Five, that changed the shape of jazz to come. To pay tribute to these legendary sessions, Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon will welcome the dynamic trumpeter and recent Juilliard graduate Andrew Stephens, along with a small group made up of some of New York’s finest traditional jazz musicians.
Rick Steves host
Nicholas Hersh conductor
New Jersey Symphony
"Ale Pak" is a popular, clean, and family-friendly Marathi stand-up comedy special by well-known comedian Mandar Bhide. The show features relatable everyday observations, nostalgia, and lighthearted humor rooted in Maharashtrian culture.
Dunbar Repertory Company presents Ntozake Shange’s FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, the groundbreaking “choreopoem” – a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. Directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, SR.
Amidst the chaos of the Iraq War, the Khachaturian family is trapped in a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, and one Marine’s split-second decision devastates the family. Years later, haunted by his time in Iraq and aided by a New Yorker journalist, the Marine seeks to reconcile with the Khachaturian matriarch. Anchored by unforgettable performances from Boyd Holbrook (A Complete Unknown, Narcos, The Morning Show), Hiam Abbass (Succession), and Kenneth Branagh, Atonement is a powerfully human true story about the immeasurable costs of war, exploring universal questions about guilt, redemption, and the nature of forgiveness.
A group of dads building a movement to support their trans and gender expansive kids are forced to make an impossible choice amid a shifting political landscape: stay and fight or flee the country.
A haunting yet life-affirming film about reframing pain and the radical power of choice. It follows grieving mother Iris Haim as she mourns the loss of her son in the aftermath of October 7th and forms an unexpected bond with Dr. Edith Eger—a renowned psychologist, author, and Auschwitz survivor—whose hard-won wisdom guides her toward transformation.
(NEWTON, NJ) -- The Newton Theatre presents Puss N Boots featuring Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson, and Catherine Popper on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 7:00pm.
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival (TIFF) has named filmmaker Luchina Fisher the first recipient of the Sandi Klein Creative Woman in Film Award, a new annual honor celebrating an exceptional woman whose work reflects the creativity, curiosity, integrity and commitment to social impact that defined Klein's life and her nearly two decades with the festival. The award includes a $1,000 grant. Fisher will receive the inaugural award at the TIFF screening of her film, The Dads, on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 2:30 pm at Teaneck Cinemas (503 Cedar Lane).
(EDISON, NJ) -- With a new dance studio year now underway for many dancers and families, registration is officially open for the LIT Tap Dance Experience, coming to Edison VFW Post 3117 on Sunday, November 8, 2026. Presented by Taplife Hero Foundation, LIT is a focused one-day tap dance experience built around technique, musicality, artistry, mentorship and community.
(FREEHOLD, NJ) -- Center Players presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play with four performances across two Sundays (November 8 and November 15, 2026). Performances are split between the American Hotel and Mattison Crossing.
(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- After its world premiere at Dances With Films LA (DWFLA), one of the nation's leading indie film festivals, Directors' Commentary will have its New Jersey Premiere at SModcastle Film Festival, hosted by filmmaker Kevin Smith. The film will screen on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 12:00pm.
